We had a garage sale yesterday. We made some good cash, got rid of a bunch of junk (like, let's say, boxes that we moved here from CT, put in the attic, and never opened again kind of stuff).
My feeling was that if I haven't looked at it / thought about it / used it in four years, did I really need it?
I plastered Craigslist with virtual ads and my neighborhoods with printed signs for a week beforehand. We had a great turnout.
The thing about garage sales is that you have to go into them knowing that you will get pissed off. Someone will undoubtedly try to pay less than whatever you have marked on the item, which is already ridiculously low.
I didn't expect that to happen with our very first customer at 6:30 in the morning.
I don't even remember what the stupid item was, but the price was $5. The guy looks at the item, looks at me and says "$4." I say. "excuse me sir?" He repeats "$4!" This continues a few more times.
Now, he didn't even phrase it as a question (and there are those of you out there who know that I demand perfect execution of sentence structure.) How about "Would you take $4 for this piece of s*!t item?"
"Look," I say. "Come on. You are the very first person here at the beginning of the day. Do you REALLY think that I am going to start dropping my prices before the garage sale has technically even started?"
And in my head I am thinking "you know, because every ad and every sign says 7am and NO FREAKING EARLY BIRDS, but here you are, pissing me off at 6:30 in the morning, it is already 100 degrees, I have a headache, I am 8 months pregnant, my hormones are raging, and I haven't had my coffee yet? Do you really want to tangle with me? Because you know, I'll put that piece of crap in the road and drive back and forth over it with my car while you stand there and watch and I'll feel REALLY GOOD ABOUT IT."
Sigh.
Don't you wish that sometimes you had the chutzpah to say what you are really thinking?
Anyhoo. I stood firm. He left. And within an hour someone bought it, at the price I was asking, with a smile on her face. Thank you very much.
5 comments:
That has got to be the funniest thing I read ALL day!! haha - thanks for the laughs!
i wish we would have known about your garage sale. i have been toying with the idea myself but have never had one. please post some pics if you took any, so i can see how you set it up. you know, if you don't mind. i think that came off kinda bossy, so how about this:
Hi Allison,
I am so happy that you had a successful garage sale. Is there any way that you can show me how you set up your tables, etc. I have been thinking about having one myself. I can repay you with dips in the pool.
Thanks!
Carey
ok, that sound better.
I know this much about myself - I don't have the patience to have a garage sale. When we moved to this house, we got a giant dumpster and just threw that kind of stuff away. I would have had to tell that guy to get the hell off my property.
i hate type-os!!!!!
that SOUNDS better.
These are a few of the reasons to hate CRAIGSLIST (for me) as well. If I wanted your smokin' offer of $65 CASH I wouldn't have listed it for $175, I would have listed it for $65. Right??? Hmmm??
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